Students' rocket falls short of goal

Alamo Heights High School aerospace engineering teacher Colin Lang (left) and his students unveil their newest rocket July 25 on campus before departing for the White Sands (N.M.) Missile Range. There on Tuesday the U.S. Army launched the custom-designed and built rocket.

Photo By Marvin Pfeiffer/ Express-News

Gabriel Gomez (left) and Blake MacKay show off the payload bay, located in the nose, which records how far and high their rocket will travel, after they and other Alamo Heights High School Aeroscience students unveiled their newest rocket in front of the school on Thursday, July 25, 2013. They are attempting to be the first high school in history to design, fabricate and test a Goddard-level rocket to carry a 35-pound payload to an altitude of 100,000 feet at MACH III (three times the speed of sound. The rocket is so powerful and sophisticated that it must be tested at the U.S. Army White Sands Missle Range, where the group will travel to in New Mexico for a July 30 launch. MARVIN PFEIFFER/ mpfeiffer@express-news.net

Photo By Marvin Pfeiffer/ Express-News

Gabriel Gomez (center) shows off the payload bay, located in the nose, which records how far and high their rocket will trave,l with otherAlamo Heights High School Aeroscience students, Taylor Monroe (from left) Ray Kaples, Blake MacKay and Megan Lane after unveiling their newest rocket in front of the school on Thursday, July 25, 2013. They are attempting to be the first high school in history to design, fabricate and test a Goddard-level rocket to carry a 35-pound payload to an altitude of 100,000 feet at MACH III (three times the speed of sound. The rocket is so powerful and sophisticated that it must be tested at the U.S. Army White Sands Missle Range, where the group will travel to in New Mexico for a July 30 launch. MARVIN PFEIFFER/ mpfeiffer@express-news.net

Photo By Marvin Pfeiffer/ Express-News

The injection system near the base that atomizes liquid nitrogen and injects it into the combustion chamber the newest rocket unveiled by Alamo Heights High School Aeroscience students in front of the school on Thursday, July 25, 2013. Alamo Heights is attempting to be the first high school in history to design, fabricate and test a Goddard-level rocket to carry a 35-pound payload to an altitude of 100,000 feet at MACH III (three times the speed of sound. The rocket is so powerful and sophisticated that it must be tested at the U.S. Army White Sands Missle Range, where the group will travel to in New Mexico for a July 30 launch. MARVIN PFEIFFER/ mpfeiffer@express-news.net

Although the launch of a rocket designed and built by Alamo Heights High School students didn't go as planned Tuesday at the White Sands (N.M.) Missile Range, pupils and officials from Alamo Heights ISD called the yearlong rocket development process rewarding.

Aerospace engineering teacher Colin Lang's class of 22 students began working on the rocket, nicknamed Maverick 2, at the start of the 2012-2013 school year. They set their sights on the missile range where the U.S. Army allows private rocket launches each summer.

The students' goal was to launch a 22-foot-tall, 600-pound rocket with an additional 35-pound payload to 100,000 feet to Mach 3, three times the speed of sound Tuesday morning. However, the rocket ascended approximately 3,000 feet before coming back down, said Cammy Montoya, public affairs specialist for White Sands Missile Range.

“I tell the students 'go out and do it' and they do it all themselves,” Lang said at a public unveiling of the rocket July 25 on campus.

AHISD Superintendent Dr. Kevin Brown attended the launch, saying the event was one of the most amazing occurrences of his life.

"It was a great experience for students. The staff at White Sands was very impressed with students of Alamo Heights."

Brown added the students consider the launch a success.

Last August the Alamo Heights aerospace students' goal was to reach 100,000 feet, but the rocket didn't succeed.

Nonetheless in that same 2012 launch, Alamo Heights was the only high school in the United States to successfully launch such a vehicle and break the sound barrier.

This year's class of newly graduated seniors traveled back to the missile range with last year's seniors, having learned from the previous year's mistakes and coming back with ideas to improve the design and field grain for this year's rocket.

Students worked on the $15,000-$20,000 rocket in the high school's downstairs machine lab.

The rocket was funded through Lang's written grants and donations. Lang has taught the class for five years at the school. He expressed pride in what the students have accomplished.